|NclZaoqM<2 -9^3 6X2. i'ssoc.aM TRN^: Proceedings of the International Symposium % URANiUM TECHNQLOqY Organised by A ENGINEERING SCIENCES COMMITTEE / BOARD OF RESEARCH IN NUCLEAR SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY GOVERNMENT OF INDIA Proceedings of the International Symposium on URANIUM TECHNOLOGY VOLUME II BHABHA ATOMIC RESEARCH CENTRE, TROMBAY, BOMBAY, 400 085 DECEMBER 13-15, 1988 Organised by ENGINEERING SCIENCES COMMITTEE BOARD OF RESEARCH IN NUCLEAR SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY GOVERNMENT OF INDIA SYMPOSIUM ORGANISING COMMITTEE Shri 3. Sen, 6ARC - Chairman Shri R.K. Garg - IRE Ltd. Bombay Shri M.K. Batra - UCIL Jaduguda Shri J.L. Bhasin - UCIL Jaduguda Shri K. Balaramamoorthy, - NFC Hyderabad Shri P.R. Roy - BARC Shri A..N. Prasad - BARC Dr.R.M. Iyer - BARC Shri T.K.S. Murthy - IRE Ltd. Prof. S.L. Narayanamurthy - IIT, Bombay Shri T.A. Menon - FACT, Cochin Comdo. K.C. Chatterjee- - OCL Bombay Shri CM. Das - NPC, Bombay Dr.C.K. Gupta - BARC Shri K.S. Kop'piker - BARC Dr. Ashok Mohan - BARC Dr.V. Venkat Raj - BARC Shri G.R. Balasubramanian - IGCAR, Kalpakkam Dr.S. Viswanathan - AMD,Hyderabad Shri M.R. Balakrishnan ' - BARC Shri U.R. Marwah - Member-.Secretary 1 TECHNICAL COMMITTEE 1. Shri K.S. Koppiker, BARC - Chairman 2. Shri V.S. Keni, BARC 3. Shri S.K. Chandra, IRE Ltd, Bombay 4. Dr.T.K. Mukherjee, BARC 5. Dr. A. Rarnanu jam, BARC to. Shri S.N. Bagchi, BARC 7. Shri U.R. Marwah, BARC - Member Secretary The National Symposium on Uranium Technology was held at BARC, Bombay during Dec. 13-15,1989 under the auspices of Engi­ neering Science Committee of Board of Research in Nuclear Science, Department, of Atomic. Energy. In the context of expanding nuclear power programme in India, the need for production of large quantity of uranium fuel from indigeneous'resources hardly needs any elaboration. After three decades of experience in :this area, it is thus appropriate to pool together the expertise and experience gained in the country during this period in various aspects of uranium technol­ ogy like exploration, mining, ore processing, refining and con­ version to. oxide and metal. This symposium has provided an opportunity to the uranium technologists to interact and exchange their experience and plan future strategies. Being the first symposium on this toppic the response has been excellent as evidenced by the extensive participation and contribution of papers covering almost all aspects of uranium technology. Altogether 69 papers, including invited lectures have been presented and the proceedings, have been brought out in two volumes. It is our hope that this technical coverage of the pro­ ceedings and panel discussion would serve as a valuable reference material for uranium technologists in the coming years; We wish to record our sincere thanks to the members of the organising and various other committees, authors of invited' lectures, and contributed papers, and panel members for making it possible to bring out this proceedings. The cooperation extended by Head, Library and Information Division, BARC is gratefuly acknowledged. TECHNICAL COMMITEE CONTENTS INAUGURAL SESSION Introductory Remarks by Shri S. Sen, Charlman, Organizing Committee Welcome Address by Dr. P.K. Iyengar, Director, BARC Presidential Address by Dr. M.R. Srinivasan, Chairman, AEC Inaugural Address by Dr. H.N. Sethna, Chairman, TOMCO & Tata Electric Compani Vote of thanks by U.R. Marwah, Member Secretary, Organizing Committee Keynote Address by .Shri R.K. Garg, CMD, IRE Ltd. TECHNICAL SESSION I Plenary Lectures Uranium mining in India - Past, present and the future M.K. Batra, Adviser, UCIL, Jaduguda. TECHNICAL SESSION II II A Uranium Prospecting Contributed Papers Structure as a guide for uranium exploration in the Turamdih-Mohuldih area, Singbhum Dt.Bihar. R. Mohanty, M.B. Verma Prospecting for uranium in carbonate rocks of 19 Vempalli formation, Cuddappah Basin, Andhra Pradesh M. Vasudeva Rao, J.C. Nagabhushana, A.V. Jeygopal and M. Thimmiah Evaluation of favourable structural features for 36 uranium from airborne geophysical surveys over parts of Madhya Pradesh K.L. Tiku, S.V. Krishna Rao and Bipan Behari Integrated geophysical investigation for uranium 49 A case study from Jamini, West Kamerg Dt. R. Srinivas, J.K. Dash, S. Sethuram, K.L. Tiku, Bipan Behair K.L. Tiku, Bipan Behari i Natural thermoluminescence of whole- 74 rock as a potential tool in the exploration for sandstone type uranium deposits: Application to the lower Mahadek sandstone of Meghalaya R. Dhana Raju, R.C. Bhargava, A.Paneerselvam and S.N. Virnave Hydrogeochemical exploration for uranium: 90 A case study from the Cuddappah Basin, Andhra Pradesh R.P. Singh, P.K. Jain, B.R.M. Kumar, S.S. Rao, A.V. Patwardhan and S.G. Vasudeva - An Alpha-gamma counting integrating device 109 for uranium exploration G. Jha, M. Gaghavayya, M.N. Srinivasan', S. Sastry. Geostatistical study of Bhaten ore deposit 126 C.V.L. Bajpai and P.P. Sharma II B Analytical Techniques in Uranium Technology Uranium analysis using an on-lone background 147 correction programme with carrier-distillation technique by a computer controlled spectrometer R.K. Dhumwad, A.B. Patwardhan, V.T. Kulkarni, K. Radhakrishnan Determination of trace metals in uranium oxide 132 by ICP-MS S. Vijayalakshmi, R. Krishna Prabhu, T.R. Mahalingam and C.K.. Mathews Development of flow-injection analysis technique for 157 uranium estimation A.H. Paranjape, S.S. Pandit, S.S. Shinde, A. Ramanujam and R.K. Dhumwad Standardisation of DC Arc carrlr-distillation 166 procedure on a direct reading spectrometer for the determination of B, Cd etc. in nuclear grade uranium S.S. Biswas, P.S. Murty, S.M. Marathe, A. Sethuinadhavan V.S. Dixit R. Kaimal and A.V. Sankaran Spectrographs determination of B,Cd and NI in 182 magnesium fluoride A. Sethumadhavan, V.S. Dixit and P.S. Murty. .j Estimation of uranium in leach liquors of low 189 iron content: Modification of a spectro­ photometry method using 4-(2-pyridil a 20) resorcinol G. Suryaprabhavati, Leela Gopal, G.S. Chawdary and Radha R. Das. Discussions 200 TECHNICAL SESSION III III A Mining and Ore Benefeciation Contributed Papers 204 Development of mining at Jaduguda J.L. Bhasin Role of support services at Jaduguda uranium mine 232 S.D. Khanwalkar, V.N. Radhakrishnana, M.N. Srinivasan, Pinaki Roy, S.N. Bannerji Recovery of uranium concentrate from copper tailings 254 S. Chakraborty, U.K. Tiwari and K.K. Beri Significance of petrology in the ore processing 284 • technology with special reference to the uranium processing from the copper tailings of Singbhum Thrust Belt N.P. Subrahmanyam, T.S. Sunilkumar, D. Narasimhan and N.K. Rao Improved gravity flow sheet for the recovery of 300 uranium values from the copper tailings R. Natarajan, R.S. Jha, U. Sridhar, N.K. Rao Magnetic separation for preconcentration of uranium 318 values from copper plant tailings R.S. Jha, T. Srinivasan, R. Natarajan, U. Sridhar and N.K. Rao Preliminary beneficiation studies on liranium ore 332 from Tummalapalli, Andhra Pradesh N.P.H. Padmanabhan, U.Sridhar,.N.K. Rao , Discussions 3« TECHNICAL SESSION HI III 11 Analyt.ie.-il Techniques in Uranium Technology-11 Contributed Papers 349 Rapid determination of uranium in uranyl nitrate solution by Gamma Spectrometry T.K. Shankaranarayanan and D.S. Gupta Modification of fluorimetric method of uranium 356 analysis for Jaduguda Plant Samples A.B. Chakraborty and V.M. Pandey Determination of uranium in sea war t* by 369 adsorptive differential pulse voltametry R.N. Khandekar and Radha Raghunath Difficulties in preparing a standard sample 376~ of uranium metal having traces of nitrogen R.S.D. Toteja, B.L. Jangida, M. Sundaresar. Estimation of manganese In tailings plant 382 effluents by ICP-AES Joydeb Roy and V.M. Pandey Voltamnetric studies of uranium (VI) 389 reduction i l Discussions 402 TECHNICAL SESSION IV Uranium Ore Process Technology Invited Lecture Technologies for processing low-grade uranium 403 ores and their relevance to Indian Situation T.K.S. Murthy Contributed Papers , Jaduguda Uranium Mill-Rich experience 431 for future challenges K.K. Beri Grinding and leaching characteristics 463 of the Indian uranium ores. V.M. Pandey and R.U. Choudhary Recovery of uranium by direct low-acid 477 leaching from copper concentrator tailings V.M. Pandey, R.U. Choudhary, A.K. Sarkar, A.P. Bannerjee, A.B. Chakraborty, N. Malty Selection of ion exchange resin for uranium 485 adsorption from Jaduguda leach liquors D.P. Saha and V.M. Pandey Apprlication of advanced technologies for uranium 498 mining and processing at Narwa Pahar and Turamdih Projects R.C. Purl and R.P. Verma Impounding of tailings at Jaduguda - 528 Planning, design and management of tailings dam S.N. Prasad and K.K. Berl TECHNICAL SESSION V Uranium Ore Process Technology-contd and Byproduct Uranium Contributed Papers Nuclear pure uranium from ores using weak 555 base ion-exchange resins S.V. Parab, S.S. Gharat, G. Cherian and K.S. Koppiker Development of an integrated process for recovery 570 of uranium from ore and its refining at the •• location of new uranium mill at Turamdih R.A. Nagle, S.V. Parab, S.S. Gharat, A.P,. Giriyalkar and K.S. Koppiker Preparation of nuclear grade uranium oxide 582 from Jaduguda leach liquor V.M. Pandey, A.B. Charkraborty and N. Malty Uranium recovery from phosphoric acid 592 G. Sivaprakash On-site tests for recovery of uranium from wet 621 process phosphoric acid at FACT H. Singh, R.A. Nagle, A.B. Giriyalkar, M.F. Fonseca and K.S. Koppiker Recovery of uranium from nitro-phos acid °28 R.A. Nagle, A.B. Giriyalkar and K.S. Koppiker Recovery of uranium from monazite - a fresh 635 look at the current practice S.L.